User:4LF 2014
World War II
In 1939 Britain join one of the toughest wars of its history. For almost six years from 1939 to 1945 people from all over Britain fought bravely for their country, every person, every business, every service was involved.
It was not only Britain who were involved in this tragic war, there were many other countries involved, 61 countries to be precise and all played their important part.
Sadly fifty million people lost their lives and hundreds of millions people were injured during this difficult time.
Air-raid shelters
The first German air attack took place in London on the evening of 7 September 1940. Within months, Liverpool,
Birmingham, Coventry and other cities were hit too.
WHY WERE AIR RAID SHELTERS BUILT?
People needed to protect themselves from the bombs being dropped by German aircraft. As the night raids became more frequent many people became tired of repeatedly interrupting their sleep to go back and forth to the air-raid shelters. Most virtually took up residence in a shelter at night time to try and reduce interruptions in their sleep.
This attack was called the Blitz. (Alec and Timur 4LF)
THE BLITZ
The London blitz began on 7th September 1940 and lasted until May 1941. The first attacks came in daylight and it was easy for people to see the bombers and shoot them down. As the war went on the attacks only happened at night time. At one point London was bombed 57 nights in a row.
The German army had many attack plans which included bombing docks where ships arrive to bring food supplies. The docks would be ruined and food supplies would not reach the people that needed it the most.
The GERMANS had a ROCKET called the V2. (Dominic 4KB)
BLITZ
On September 1st,1939 The German army invaded Poland. It was dangerous to be in a big city during the war. Cities were the target of enemy aircraft that flew over at night dropping bombs. At 4:56pm on 7th of September 1940,the air raid sirens wailed as the German air force, the Luftwaffe, launched a massive raid on London. Over 350 bombers flew across the channel from airfields in France and dropped 300 tones of bombs on the docks and streets of the east end of London. The word Blitz is a shortened version of the German word Blitzkrieg [LIGHTNING WAR]. (Henry and Sam 4LF)
British aircraft of World War 2
In July 1940, Hitler gave orders for the preparation of a sea born invasion of Britain, called Operation Sealion. To make this easier to win this operation, he sent the German air force (Luftwaffe) to destroy Britain's Royal Air Force first. Battle of Britain is the name commonly given to the effort by the Luftwaffe to gain air control over the Royal Air Force (RAF), before a planned sea and airborne invasion of Britain during the Second World War.
BLITZ
On September 1st,1939 The German army invaded Poland. It was dangerous to be in a big city during the war. Cities were the target of enemy aircraft that flew over at night dropping bombs. At 4:56pm on 7th of September 1940,the air raid sirens wailed as the German air force, the Luftwaffe, launched a massive raid on London. Over 350 bombers flew across the channel from airfields in France and dropped 300 tones of bombs on the docks and streets of the east end of London. The word Blitz is a shortened version of the German word Blitzkrieg [LIGHTNING WAR]. (Henry and Sam 4LF)
Royal Air Force plane - Super marine Spitfire Mk XVI
The Super marine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries through the Second World War.
On 10 July, 1940, the Luftwaffe made their first bomber attack on British ships in the Channel.
In August, 1940 the German air force began its mass bomber attacks on British airfields, harbours, aircraft factories and radar stations. During the next three months the Royal Air Force lost 792 planes and over 500 pilots were killed.
The 31 October 1940, is generally considered to be the end of the Battle of Britain, after the RAF caused considerable damage to the Luftwaffe. 1,547 allied aircraft were lost during the Battle of Britain. (Aryan and Harry 4LF)
Children in the War
In September 1939 the first Evacuation happened and the war began. ll kinds of people were evacuated pregnant mothers, mothers with small children, the sick and the elderly.
Often, even the people in charge of groups of Evacuees did not know exactly where they were going. No wonder many of the children were excited for them it was a journey. Many London children were evacuated to the countryside during WWII. It was tough living in London in the 1930s, not many children had been on holiday or even left the city. The children who were evacuated to the countryside thought of it as being a great adventure.
The child had an identification card and a gas mask and box. When they left for the countryside they were not allowed to take many other belongings with them. They were asked to take: two sets of underwear, spare shoes, socks or stockings, a warm coat, a sweater, handkerchiefs, and pyjamas or a night dress. They were also asked to take some basic toiletries: a soap, a towel, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a hairbrush or comb. Evacuees were normally older than baby Eileen. They were evacuated mostly by train. Others went by bus,car or, occasionally ,by boat. The teachers who travelled with their classes acted as mothers and fathers. They comforted the children , made sure they had a enough to eat and drink. Between September 1939 and March 1940 evacuation cost £9 million. The money could have been better spent on warships and fighter planes. Evacuation was unnecessary as bombs damage was not as bad as expected. Instead of 10,000 deaths from each raid, air raids killed 60,595 people in the whole war. (Clemmie, Keira and Ava 4KB)
Countries in World War II
From September 1939 to August 1945 Britain fought in World War II. The fighting took place all over the world, on land, at sea and in the air.
The Allies involved in World War II are: Soviet Union, Egypt, Britain, China, India, Australia. The countries under Axis control were: France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, Poland, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Romania,
The second World War II was the most catastrophic conflict in history. Every continent on earth was drawn into its fiery cauldron. (Vavara, Caroline and Jessica 4LF)
German Army
The German armed services were not one single fighting force but a tangle of different organizations: Poland Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia to name a few.
· The invasion of the USSR began on 22 June 1941 without warning
· The Germans had massed a huge army of 3 million men, 3,000 tanks, 7,000 big guns and 2,500 plane.
· By early October St. Petersburg and Moscow were under siege .
· The Germans had yet to take Leningrad and Moscow, but Hitler was confident the operation would be a success.
· But one German commander came closer to the truth it was the worst disaster of German history. (Warwick and Woody 4KB)
Evacuation
The war changed the British way of life. Churchill led a new government made up of all the parties, and elections were put off until after the war the government kept a close eye on what people said or wrote. The aim of evacuation was to get people (mainly children) out of danger, The government listed nine areas to be evacuated. These were big cities and ports including London,Manchester, Liverpool and Southampton. Some cities such as Glasgow and Belfast,were not evacuated as the Government believed enemy bombers would not be ordered to fly that far.but they were wrong Glasgow and Belfast were both hit. William and Greg 4LF
Hitler
Adolf Hitler was born on the 20th April 1889 in a small Austrian town called Braunau, very near to the German border.
Hitler served in the Bavarian army during World War I and rose to become the leader of Nazi Germany during World War II. Under his leadership, the Nazis fought to make Germany the most powerful empire in the world and get rid of all they viewed as an enemies. He ordered the death of over 11 million people. Most were Jewish but it also included people of other faiths and cultures. This mass killing is known as the Holecast.
As the war was ending, and it became clear that the Germans would not win, Hitler retreated to a bunker with his mistress, Eva Braun. He arranged for the their marriage and then it is believed that Eva poisoned herself while Hitler killed himself with a pistol shot on April 30, 1945. Lily, Milly and Hannah 4LF
MEDICAL
The injured men arrived at British hospitals from the war lying in such a variety of positions, often with their limbs stuck out at uneasy angles in the makeshift plaster splints or sometimes slung on frames and hung with weights and pulleys.They needed a great deal of care and attention, some of the injured men who be cared for and send back to fight, but others were not so fortunate and they were so badly injured they could not fight for their country again.
Nurses often travelled by motorcycle or bicycle as this used less petrol which was rationed because it was in short supply.
Nurses at home and abroad worked in casualty clearing stations, here the injured were given emergency treatment until they could be transferred to hospital’s.Women played a vital role in the war, as many used their caring, mothering ways to nurse injured men back to health. (Hattie and India 4KB)